Life in the Soil

Elaine Ingham, B.A., M.S., Ph.D.

President, Soil Foodweb Inc.

soilfoodweb@aol.com
 Elaine Ingham, B.A., M.S., Ph.D.

Soil Microbiologist
St. Olaf College, Double Major in Biology and Chemistry
Master’s, Texas A&M, Marine Microbiology
Ph.D., Colorado State University, Soil Microbiology
Research Fellow, University of Georgia
Assistant, Associate Professor, Oregon State University
(1986 – 2001)
Rodale Institute, Chief Scientist 2011 - 2013
President, Soil Foodweb Inc., 1996 – present
New York, Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa, Canada East and West, England,
.llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
 A Healthy Food Web Will:
• Suppress Disease (competition, inhibition,
consumption; no more pesticides!)
• Retain Nutrients (stop run-off, leaching)
• Nutrients Available at rates plants require
(eliminate fertilizer) leading to flavor and
nutrition for animals and humans
• Decompose Toxins
• Build Soil Structure –(reduce water use,
increase water holding capacity, increase
rooting depth)
 Minerals in soil (Sparks 2003)
Element Soils (mg/kg) In the Earth’s In Sediments
Median Range crust (mean) (mean)

O 490,000 - 474,000 486,000

Si 330,000 250,000-410,000 277,000 245,000
Al 71,000 10,000-300,000 82,000 72,000
Fe 40,000 2,000-550,000 41,000 41,000
C (total) 20,000 7,000-500,000 480 29,400
Ca 15,000 700-500,000 41,000 66,000
Mg 5,000 400-9,000 23,000 14,000
K 14,000 80-37,000 21,000 20,000
Na 5,000 150-25,000 23,000 5,700
Mn 1,000 20-10,000 950 770
Zn 90 1-900 75 95
Mo 1.2 0.1-40 1.5 2
Ni 50 2-750 80 52
Cu 30 2-250 50 33
N 2,000 200-5,000 25 470
P 800 35-5,300 1,000 670
 Nutrient Pools in Soil
Total – Without organisms to
everything retain the soluble
nutrients that a plant
does not take up, or to
Exchangeable - Bacteria, Fungi, change plant-not-
easily pulled off Protozoa, available forms in plant-
surfaces; easy to Nematodes available forms, no new
make soluble Microarthropods soluble nutrients will
occur. Plants will
suffer.

Soluble – What biomass of each

dissolved in soil organism is needed so
solution; the plant gets the
potentially nutrients it needs?
available to plants
 Soil Chemistry: Nutrient Pools
• Total Nutrients – not normally reported
– Grind, complete digestion and combustion
• Exchangeable Nutrients (Melick 3, Ammonium
Acetate 1N)
– Strong extracting agents, but not ALL nutrients
• Soluble Nutrients
– Extracts soil solution or water soluble nutrients
– Available nutrients – made available how?
• Plant Tissue Tests
– Total chemical components….. Balanced?
 Availability of Minerals Relative to pH

V e r y S lig h tly

V e r y S lig h tly
Without biology,

A lk a lin e

A lk a lin e

A lk a lin e
S lig h tly

S lig h tly
M e d iu m

M e d iu m
S t r o n g ly S t r o n g ly

A c id

A c id

A c id
A c id A lk a lin e
you are stuck with
N IT R O G E N pH as the sole
P H O S P H O R U S arbiter of what is
P O T A S S IU M available to plant
S U LFU R
roots, as indicated
C A L C IU M
to the left. But add
M A G N E S IU M

IR O N
organisms, and
M A N G A N E S E plant nutrition is no
B O R O N longer ruled by
C O P P E R a n d Z IN K chemistry alone.
M O L Y B D E N IU M

4 .0 4 .5 5 .0 5 .5 6 .0 6 .5 7 .0 7 .5 8 .0 8 .5 9 .0 9 .5 1 0 .0

pH
 Soil vs Dirt: Clean water?
-no organisms,
Rainfall no structure
-Organisms
build -Nutrients move
structure Soil Dirt with the water

-Nutrients -Water not held

held in soil pores,
moves rapidly
-Water is thru soil
retained -Leaching,
and moves erosion and run-
slowly thru Clean Water Water moves clay, off are problems
the soil silt and inorganic chemicals
so no “cleaning” process
 Who is in the soil?

Hi! I’m Alaimus!

I’m from the town
of Vegetable Roots!

I eat aerobic bacteria and don’t

like bad-tasting anaerobic
bacteria at all. My job is to turn
nutrients in bacteria into plant-
available forms.
400X Total Mag
Bacteria, fungi, humus, aggregates: microscope view
Soil biological
succession causes
plant succession

Bacteria …A few Fungi……Balanced ……..More Fungi…… Fungi

Bacteria: 10 µg 100 µg 500 600 µg 500 µg 700 µg

Fungi: 0 µg 10 µg 250 600 µg 800 µg 7000 µg
Forms of nutrients:
Critical to
understand

NO3………..…...balanced………………..NH4
NO3 and NH4

Protozoa.....B-f…..F-f…..Predatory…..Microarthropods
Nematodes
What does your plant need?
Cyanobacteria
Bare Parent “Weeds”
True Bacteria
- high NO3
Material Protozoa
- lack of oxygen
100% Fungi
F:B = 0.1
bacterial Nematodes
Microarths
F:B = 0.01

Soil Foodweb Early Grasses

Conifer, old- Bromus, Bermuda
growth forests Structure F:B = 0.3
F:B = 100:1 to Through Succession,
1000:1
And Increasing Mid-grasses, vegetables
Productivity F:B = 0.75

Deciduous Shrubs, vines, Late successional

Trees Bushes grasses, row crops
F:B = 5:1 to 100:1 F:B = 2:1 to 5:1 F:B = 1:1
 Volcano!

Bare Parent
Foodweb “Weeds”
Material Development F:B 0.1
100% F:B = 0.01
bacterial
Disturbance Pushes Insects

Systems “Backwards”, Early Annuals

But How Far? F:B = 0.3

Old- growth
Depends on Intensity,
F:B = 100:1 to Frequency
1000:1 Mid-grass, vegies
FIRE!!! F:B = 0.75
Flood

Bushes Pasture, row crops

Deciduous Trees
F:B = 2:1 to 5:1 F:B = 1:1
F:B = 5:1 to 100:1
Cattle
Humans?
Lawns , trees, gardens or crops, the story is the same. Soil biology is
being destroyed by human management. Roots are not going as deep as
they should, and water, fertility and disease protection are lost.
• Peter M. Wild, Boston Tree Preservation

Just because we see this all the time, does it mean

this is how plants grow? 18
Josh Webber: Portmore Golf Course,
North Devon, UK
 Without
compaction roots
can go deep
Hendrikus Schraven holding
ryegrass planted July 15, 2002

Harvested Nov 6, 2002

Mowed through the summer

70% Essential Soil,

30% Compost/organic
fertilizer
Compost tea once

No weeds, no disease

www.soildynamics.com
 Oxygen? Disease? Microbes?

Source: Conservation Research Institute

Sod installed around new pond just after
installation and one compost tea spray
6 weeks after sod
was laid with
compost tea
below and on the
sod.
Roots were less
than ½ inch, now
6 inches deep
into the soil.
No erosion, no
weeds, no
disease
 Biological V’s Conventional
Approach to Soil Management

Compost Tea Test Trial

Summer 2003

by Abron New Zealand

Russell Snodgrass, SFI Advisor
 Background
• Trial area consists of two plots fenced off from stock and the
pasture harvested every 20-30 days using a mower

• Trial was carried out on a conventional dairy farm in the Bay of

Plenty, New Zealand

• All testing is done by Hill Laboratories and the Soil Foodweb

Institute NZ

• Trial overseen by Mark Macintosh of Agfirst Consultants

• Trial started 1 October 2003

Trial finished 24 February 2004
 Treatment
• Compost Tea Plot
– Three applications of compost tea and foods at 150L/ha
applied every 4 weeks starting in October 2003
– No fertiliser had been applied to the compost tea trial plot
for the 12 months prior or throughout the trial

• Control Plot
– Conventionally fertilised with urea at an application rate
of 75kg/ha every 6-8 weeks (450kg/ha per year)
– Phosphate Sulphur Magnesium applied at industry
maintenance levels
 Total Dry Matter Grown
8133
8200
8000
7800
Kg per ha

7600
7400 7276
7200
7000
6800
Control Compost Tea
Is it true that lower yields occur in Organic Agriculture?
If you get the life in the soil correct, that is not true.
 Average Clover % in Pasture Sward

45 42.5
40
35
% of clover

30
25
20
15
10 6.25
5
0
Control Compost Tea
No clover was sown in these fields. Where did the
clover come from? There all along, just needed to NOT
have the urea used.
 Herbage Mineral Levels Improved
120

100

80
% Increase over control

60

40

20

Minerals
 Biological Soil Test Results
Soil Foodweb test done 4 weeks after 3rd application - Dec 2003
Biomass Data Control Compost Tea
Active Bacteria (ug/g) 64.2 30.4
Total Bacteria (ug/g) 348 257
Active Fungi (ug/g) 0.5 144
Total Fungi (ug/g) 113 227
Fungi to Bacteria Ratio 0.32 0.88
Fungi Hyphal Diameter (um) 2.5 3
Protozoa (per gram)
Flagellates 8395 58730
Amoebae 8395 5873
Ciliates 4046 1767
Mycorrhizal fungi root colonisation 0 4
(%)
 Nematodes
Numbers per gram fresh soil

Type Control Compost Variance

Tea
Bacteria feeders 1.98 4.52 128%
Fungal feeders 0.99 1.58 60%
Fungal / Root 1.09 0.24 -78%
feeders
Root feeders 0.99 0.12 - 87%
Predatory 0 0 0
Nematodes
 Key Results
• 11.78% increase in total dry matter grown over the control
• $307/ha increased milk income from the extra dry matter
grown
• Big increases in herbage mineral levels, resulting in
reduced animal health costs; recovery from facial eczema
• 780% increase in clover content giving the soil access to
more free nitrogen
• Huge reductions in root feeding nematodes, providing a
better environment for increased clover growth
• Reduce costs by $200,000 on a 300 acre farm in the first
growing season
 There is hope…..
• We can return the soil to health in a short
time, and for little cost
• It will not cost billions, or even millions of
dollars
• It will not take years
• Within one growing season, you can get the
increased yields, decrease your costs and
improve nutrition in the food you produce
• IF you get the biology right for your plant
• IF you get the WHOLE FOOD WEB back 34
 Contact Information…..
• Dr. Elaine Ingham, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.

• Soil Foodweb Inc.

soilfoodweb@aol.com
– 2864 NW Monterey Pl, Corvallis,
Oregon

• Soil Life Consultants

soillifeconsultants.com 35